Privacy Nightmare: When baby monitors go bad

A secure crib and a baby monitor are on the the “must-have” safety checklist for many new parents. But when you tuck Junior in for the night, you never imagine waking to a scene straight out of “The Twilight Zone:” a foul-mouthed baby camera with a life of its own.

This is exactly what happened to Adam and Heather Schreck last spring when they awoke in the middle of the night to screams of “Wake up, baby!” streaming from their daughter’s bedroom. The couple rushed to their 10-month-old’s crib and realized the voice was coming from the IP camera they had trained on their baby to ensure her safety.

Then things got even creepier.

The camera rotated to face Adam, and a voice started screaming obscenities. Adam realized the camera was possessed controlled by a hacker and pulled the plug. (Note: Cutting power to the camera was the wrong move because it erased forensic data.)

Unfortunately, the Schreck family’s experience wasn’t isolated. In August 2013, a Houston family using a similar IP camera awoke to find their two-year-old being verbally assaulted by someone yelling obscenities.